Chapter 77 Ghost of Uchiha

In the shadowed crevices of Mountain's Graveyard, a gloomy place nestled in the northernmost reaches between Takigakure (Hidden Waterfall Village) and Shimogakure (Hidden Frost Village).

In the depths of mountain graveyard was an abandoned cave, its entrance shrouded by the dense forestry that clung to mountain like a dark, green mantle.

Deep inside the cave, the air was thick with chakra and scent of earth, the only light came from the luminescent fungi that clung to the damp walls.

It was a vast hall with at the center on a raised platform, on a stone chair sat an old man with wrinkled skin and white hair, donning a loose grey robe.

He was no ordinary old man who rotted beneath the ground and seemed like waiting for his death, he was the ghost of uchiha, the man whose might rivaled that of god of shinobi.

Madara Uchiha.

Behind him was a giant, earthen-colored humanoid entity with a mummified appearance and a number of spike-like protrusions on its back. It had nine closed eyes as well with white thick tubes extending out of it connected to the back of Madara who sat on the chair.

Keng!

"Huh…

Madara had his eyes closed and looked in a deep sleep but suddenly a piece of rock from the wall fell down, creating some noise as he opened his eyes.

From the walls around black liquid seeped out and slowly shaped into a humanoid figure with no face and only two yellow eyes, slowly walking towards Madara.

"What brings you here, Zetsu?" Asked Madara in a deep voice while keeping his calm eyes that seemed to have seen so much on the black figure.

"Hehe… the war above has ended and just like the previous one konoha ended up emerging victorious"

Told Black Zetsu about the recent happenings at the surface while letting out a gloomy laugh.

"War never ends… after a few years of false peace they'll start again, rather than this tell me how that kid nagato is doing?"

Madara completely treating the news about the war as rubbish asked about the matter that interested him more.

The kid who carried his eyes was under the watch of his subordinates all the time and would report him about his condition from time to time.

"He ended up coming in contact with Jiraiya, one the students of third hokage and is now being trained by him along with his two little friends"

"Jiraiya is a man of ideals, a lot like the first hokage and choose to train them out of sympathy so the rinnegan is in no danger" Assured Black Zetsu in a rare serious tone, nobody cared more about the safety of rinnegan than him, probably not even Madara to whom those eyes belonged.

"Interesting~ I guess that solves the problem of guiding him to the shinobi path" Said Madara with a bright look in his eyes as jiraiya's appearance has solved one problem for him.

For his future plans Nagato had to become stronger and couldn't stay a weak wandering kid and that problem seems to have finally been solved.

"There's actually something else that might interest you as well"

Just when Madara who thinking that Zetsu didn't have anything else to share was about to take another nap, the latter's words took his attention again.

"During the war, a battle that piqued my interest occurred between Iwa's five tails jinchuriki han and Konoha's rising war sensation, Kazuki Aoyama, a kid at most twelve"

"The battle ended with Han's death, killed in a one on one battle despite giving his all"

"Oh~" Zetsu's words fell and Madara couldn't help but raise his head and show a surprised look.

"I witnessed the whole battle and what I found even more interesting was his resemblance in many ways to two shinobi from the past that you know about very well"

Saying that Zetsu gave Madara a look who didn't say anything and just narrowed his eyes a little, looking at him for more details.

"He displayed water release of a class once only showed by that man; his battle intellect, sword play and mastery of sealing jutsu also hinted towards him"

"Senju Tobirama"

Crack!

The moment the name left Zetsu's mouth, a look of anger appeared in Madara's eyes as his right hand resting on the chair couldn't help but clench into fist, cracks appearing on the stone chair.

"Hehe" Seeing Madara clearly angry, Zetsu let out a gloomy laugh and continued speaking.

"The chakra amount he possesses is huge for someone not possessing any kekkai genkai and belonging to any noticeable clan; so I have a doubt that he might be of senju descent"

"The reason why I lean more towards his possible senju lineage is because after the battle he showed magical recovery that only Hashirama Senju once possessed"

Zetsu put forward his guess with some facts to prove their validity, a complete silence in the hall after his words.

"The mind of Tobirama and possible potential like Hashirama; that's the deadliest combination" Said Madara in a serious tone, its true he hated tobirama but that doesn't mean he doesn't acknowledge the genius he was.

Tobirama defeated his brother and invented so many forbidden jutsu; the Shinobi ranks, Anbu organization, Konoha police force, Ninja academy, most of the current shinobi system originated from his head.

Tobirama was only limited by his latent potential but still just using his head; he managed to attain strength that most with potential couldn't.

So someone with tobirama's mind and hashirama's potential was truly to be taken seriously.

"Keep an eye on him for now; although not very likely but if he does start showing signs of achieving strength like hashirama's then I'll take a risk and deal with him before it's too late"

"I won't allow any variable that can affect the plan to exist"

Madara's cold words full of determination rang in the hall as even the temperature dropping a little.

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